Muskies worked hard for title

Who’s better than the Muskies?
Other than the Widdifield Wildcats, Chatham-Kent Golden Hawks and the Parkside Collegiate Stampeders . . . nobody!
After starting off the tournament last Wednesday morning with nail-biting tension that would make even the strongest person go weak in the knees, the Muskie senior girls’ volleyball team claimed the consolation title–and fourth place overall–at the all-Ontario’s in Sault Ste. Marie.
“I am extremely proud of them. We showed the other teams we could compete,” head coach Adrian Chapman said last Thursday after OFSAA wrapped up. “I never gave up on them.”
Chapman admitted he was nervous before the first game Wednesday morning against the Widdifield Wildcats but was still confident the girls would do well.
“I was extremely nervous but I wasn’t sure how we would do,” he noted. “I wasn’t sure how we would step up to teams we hadn’t played before.
“I was worried we would play down to the bad teams and wouldn’t measure up to the good teams,” he added.
After splitting their four round-robin games (losing to Widdifield and Chatham-Kent but beating Sainte-Marie and Cayuga) to finish in third place in ‘Pool A’, the Muskies opened the consolation quarter-finals Thursday morning on a slow note.
They opened the best-of-three match with a 25-17 loss to Marion Academy but then bounced back to take the next two by scores of 25-10 and 25-17 to advance to the consolation semi-finals.
Once again, they started slow, losing the opening game 29-27 to the Arnprior Redmen. But for the second time, they roared back and took the match by winning the next two games easily (25-17 and 25-14).
It wasn’t even close in the consolation final that after. Facing the Cayuga Warriors once again, the black-and-gold swept to the title in convincing fashion, taking the best-of-three match 25-12 and 25-19.
Chapman said the Muskies, who went into the 17-team ‘AA’ tournament ranked 17th, were the underdogs yet they stepped up and were able to compete with the top teams, like number-one seeded Chatham-Kent.
“They [Chatham] were making fun of us and it got us going,” stressed Chapman, noting they were the first team to win a game against the Golden Hawks.
Chatham-Kent had strutted onto the court in the White Pines Collegiate gym with an overwhelming air of confidence. But it didn’t discourage the Muskies–they were confident, the nerves had gone and they were ready to play volleyball.
In the first game, they fell 25-16 but they stepped up their game in the second one to eke out a 25-23 win.
“After the first game, we were like, ‘Wow we just got 16 points against the #1 ranked team,’” Chapman recalled. “The second game got them riled up–I have never seen them so intense.
“We went out and started winning and actually had them worried.”
Chatham-Kent became noticeably uncomfortable with the idea of the last-ranked team beating them. The Golden Hawks again stepped up their game and took the final 25-15 although the Muskies had led 13-12 at one point.
He remarked the spectators on hand were really fun and that out of all the teams competing there, the Muskies had the most fans.
“We were the underdogs,” he explained. “It felt really good to have them [other teams] cheer for us.”
Chapman noted a coach can only do so much.
“I can only coach them so far,” he admitted. “If they wouldn’t have realized their potential, then they never would have come close.”
He noted the girls opened the provincials flat but they got into gear as soon as they realized they had the ability to compete with the other teams.
“Siobhan is a go-to player,” Chapman said. “But she, like the rest of the team, faltered [in the early part of the week]. A lot of it was nerves.”
Chapman also highlighted the play of Chrissy Thomson and Allison Hyatt.
“Chrissy’s defence was awesome,” he stressed. “She’s not even moving and then she is getting the balls up. Allison was the best defence on the team this year by far.”
Her game was amazing in the consolation semi-finals against Arnprior.
“She was a deciding factor in that game with all of her amazing plays and digs,” Chapman enthused.